“As a clinical student, I can especially attest to the excellent training that I’ve received through that area,” says Allison Gaffey, a fourth-year student in the clinical psychology Ph.D. program at the University of Notre Dame. She also appreciates the Department of Psychology’s “very strong” quantitative program, allowing her to gain additional training in those methods.
Gaffey’s work focuses on stress hormones, such as cortisol, and other hormones, such as testosterone and oxytocin, and their effects on emotional, motivational, and cognitive processes. In 2012 she won a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship award, which provides support for three years of graduate education as well as a range of additional educational opportunities.
Although Gaffey was initially drawn to Notre Dame by the opportunity to work with Assistant Professor Michelle Wirth, she also valued the “collaborative tradition” between the psychology department and the University as a whole: “That really helped to foster research opportunities and was attractive as well.”
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